I'm a pop culture geek, married to a non-geek, "normie" guy. I also like cooking and crafts. My own crochet patterns posted here. Please be respectful of my work and keep in mind that most of those crochet patterns have only been made once or twice. If you find a mistake, let me know. If you make something, please send me a link back.
If this blog still isn't enough of me for you, check Geek Crafts for even more of me on Saturdays under AmyLynn98, or find me on Twitter at @JediAmyLynn98.

Saturday, November 5, 2016

A few years ago for Thanksgiving, Michelle the Cook brought over roasted Brussels sprouts. Man, they were so good. And it's taken me, literally, a few years to find a good recipe for them. But it finally happened: Balsamic-Roasted Brussels Sprouts by Ina Garten.

Full disclosure here: I think Ina's show, the Barefoot Contessa, is a bit obnoxious for some reason. I don't know if it's her or the show's format, but I don't really care for it. That being said, I have good memories of watching her on TV with my mom when I was last with her. we watched a lot of Food Network those two weeks.

Ingredients

1 1/2 pounds Brussels sprouts, trimmed and cut in half through the core

4 ounces pancetta, 1/4-inch-diced--I didn't have any pancetta.

1/4 cup good olive oil

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon syrupy balsamic vinegar

Directions
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the Brussels sprouts on a
sheet pan, including some of the loose leaves, which get crispy when
they're roasted. Add the pancetta, olive oil, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and
1/2 teaspoon pepper, toss with your hands, and spread out in a single
layer. Roast the Brussels sprouts for 20 to 30 minutes, until they're
tender and nicely browned and the pancetta is cooked. Toss once during
roasting. Remove from the oven, drizzle immediately with the balsamic
vinegar, and toss again. Taste for seasonings, and serve hot.

Damn it, that Ina Garten is good! :) This turned out as good as my friend's recipe did, and I believe she had bacon in her sprouts.

My husband doesn't like Brussels sprouts so I had leftovers and actually finished them off for breakfasttoday while I was waiting for the cable guy to show up. :)

Monday, October 31, 2016

Halloween never lasts long enough. :( But we had nice weather tonight, even though I think this was the coolest Halloween we've had in a long time (temperature wise, anyway). We had so many kids here tonight, almost as many as last year.

And like the last few years, I've had to work on Halloween, so I had prestaged my life-sized uglies in the second bedroom the night before. The smalls and the lights were already outside, so we hustled to get the big guys set up. It was just a quick "pass through the gauntlet" along the sidewalk, but it's given me ideas for next year.

Homemade Freddy that's being updated after this Halloween, even though this is only his second Halloween.

Homemade Michael, new for this year. However, the fan that operated his head burned out after an hour and a half.

Michael in the fog.

Pennywise and Chucky were new this year.

There was the good mixed bag of little kid screams and laughing parents this year. However, it just felt a little rushed and not my best effort this year. We had just two chalk outlines but they were noticed, so that was good.

I guess this year, it's like I had a little bit of a "bah humbug" feeling for Halloween. I've been slammed at work and just recently found out that my supervisor is leaving, and I might be out of a job sometime between, oh, now and April, because of cutbacks. So I've had to start looking for another job, again.

There's just a bunch of random things in my life that I'm not happy with right now, so it's making me a bear to be around. I wish I could change a whole bunch of things in my life, even stuff in the past.

Good Geek Quotes To Live By

“Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It’s basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating.”

--Simon Pegg

"Being a fangirl or a nerd means that you’re not afraid to love things. That’s what it really gets down to: a conscious decision to not let societal stigma tell you how appropriate your feelings are or are not."--Sara @ Fantastic Fangirls

"Wil Wheaton Says: Don't be a dick"--Wil Wheaton

"All I ask of you is one thing: please don't be cynical. I hate cynicism -- it's my least favorite quality and it doesn't lead anywhere. Nobody in life gets exactly what they thought they were going to get. But if you work really hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen."